From the Office of the Provost:
Dear Members of the Fordham Community,
I hope this email finds you well and safe, and enjoying as much of a summer break as possible. I am writing to let you know that Fordham has made the difficult decision of suspending all study abroad programs through the end of the fall 2020 semester, in the interest of the health and safety of our students.
For the past few months, we have been closely monitoring the COVID-19 conditions, in the 22 countries where Fordham students had planned to study abroad this fall, and studying the ongoing challenges of international travel as a result of the global pandemic. While Fordham has been working diligently to create a multi-faceted plan for social distancing, sanitation, testing, contact tracing, and isolation protocols on each of our New York campuses, it has become increasingly clear that we cannot provide this critical level of precautionary care at each of our many study abroad locations.
We continue academic planning under the presumption that Fordham will offer face-to-face and online instruction at its New York campuses in fall 2020. We are confident that we can do so while protecting the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff, subject, of course, to Governor Cuomo’s approval for reopening higher education in New York City. We will also offer the option of fully online learning for any of our students or faculty who might need to participate remotely, for a portion or all of the semester, because of health concerns, visa constraints, travel restrictions, etc.
In preparation for restarting campus activities, the University formed thirteen working groups across every area of operations from COVID-19 screening and containment, dining and residential life, student experience and experiential learning, and infrastructure and sanitation, among others. A website provides the charge and membership of each working group and gives you the opportunity to direct questions or concerns to any of the thirteen working groups. The working groups are coordinated by a steering committee that is developing a comprehensive University-wide plan. Fordham’s restart plan will be published and shared with students, faculty, and staff in late June.
We are currently accepting study abroad applications for the spring 2021 semester and look forward to restarting our study abroad programs when the public health situation permits us to do so. Students who had planned to study abroad this semester can instead pursue their fall studies at Fordham and consider deferring study abroad to a future semester, with priority placement.
As we prepare to offer a transformative education for our students this fall semester, please know that the health and well-being of every member of the Fordham community are of principal importance to us.
Sincerely,
Dennis C. Jacobs, Ph.D.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
